Seven astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Discovery have a hearty
welcome waiting aboard the International Space
Station (ISS), where three veteran spaceflyers are preparing for their afternoon
arrival.

Discovery's
STS-116
astronaut crew, commanded by veteran shuttle flyer Mark
Polansky, is scheduled to dock at the ISS at about 5:05 p.m. EST (2105 GMT)
after a two-day orbital trek.

"I think
that's going to be a really neat thing," said Polansky, who visited a much
smaller ISS as
the pilot of NASA's STS-98
mission in 2001, before launch. "I can only imagine how monstrous this
thing is going to look with the whole truss structure across it and the extra
pair of [solar] arraysgoing out there."

"I hope Suni
likes it," Expedition 14 commander Michael Lopez-Alegria
said of Williams, a first-time spaceflyer, just after Discovery reached space Saturday.
"She's going to be there for awhile."

Williams
will relieve European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiteras an Expedition 14 crewmember, and will join Lopez-Alegria and Russian
cosmonaut Mikhail
Tyurinaboard the ISS. Reiter will return to Earth with the STS-116
crew aboard Discovery at the end of the shuttle's 12-day
mission.

Orbital
acrobatics ahead

Polansky
will guide Discovery through some orbital acrobatics before docking at the ISS.

At about
4:04 p.m. EST (2104 GMT), the shuttle commander is expected to bring Discovery
to a point about 600 feet (182 meters) below the station, then put the 100-ton
spacecraft through a nine-minute back flip that will allow the Expedition 14
astronauts aboard the ISS to take high-resolution images of the orbiter's
tile-lined belly [image].
The procedure is know as a Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver [image].

"That's
when I'll get my first really close-up view of it," first-time spaceflyer Nicholas
Patrick, who'll be sitting in Discovery's front seats during the shuttle's
backflip, of the ISS. "I don't know what to expect."

Analysts on
Earth will later review the tile photography for any signs of damage caused
during Discovery's Saturday
launch [image].
The survey follows a detailed heat shield inspection of Discovery's nosecap,
wing leading edges and other areas by Patrick and his crewmates using a
sensor-laden extension of the orbiter's 50-foot (15-meter) robotic arm [image].

NASA
officials said
late Sunday that an early analysis of the heat shield survey found little
cause for concern, and were eagerly looking ahead to what promises to be a
challenging ISS construction mission.

"I hope you're
enjoying this early Christmas present like all of us are," STS-116 lead shuttle
flight director Tony Ceccacci said.

NASA is broadcasting the
shuttle Discovery's mission to the International Space Station live on NASA TV.
You are invited to follow along with the STS-116 and Expedition 14 crews using SPACE.com's NASA
TV feed, which is available by clicking here.